


Sisterly Watch

by Arithanas



Category: The Bletchley Circle
Genre: Misses Clause Challenge, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-24
Updated: 2014-12-24
Packaged: 2018-03-03 04:22:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2837792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arithanas/pseuds/Arithanas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A glimpse of  how Jean McBrien solved troubles in Hut 14 at Bletcheley Park.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sisterly Watch

**Author's Note:**

  * For [categranger](https://archiveofourown.org/users/categranger/gifts).



> My gratitude to [Dryad](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Dryad) for the beta work.

Jean knew which was her duty to the King, the Country, the Government Code and Cypher School, and her Baker Street irregulars, and by God, there were days where life was so difficult!  


Every day, she woke early, among the cold mists of the humid building that stuck to her clothes and her hair like a veil, before any of her girls even dreamed of pulling off the scarf that covered their hair rollers. There were things she must take care of, the late night shift must hand over the newest developments, any radio signal must get ready for the three girls responsible for transcription by Bombe machine, coffee and tea must be ready and hot, because when the transcription had been made, that must be assigned to any of the analysts for pattern finding, decode and interpretation. Even the King couldn't ask her veteran brain to sort the roster for the most brilliant and least conflicted analyst without a good cup of tea.

The girls took a meagre breakfast, daily and collectively. Each morning they shared a table. Toasted bread and tea before starting to the barracks and their machines; Jean watched for them, because they were like siblings and they always found a way to bother each other. She was always amazed by their lack of foresight, for she was fully aware that every little battle they fought among themselves was another battle which was not fought on the lines.  Their conflict always meant the Crown could lose good people in service.

The work waited for the code-breakers, long typographic lines, in clusters of five, each of the clusters a letter to decipher or an unit belonging to a pattern they must interpret and contain. Most of the time they were a command to some foreign army and knowing the pattern was hours ahead for the forces of Britain, precious time that could mean life or death for countless and valiant men and women.

A clear mind deciphered pattern better, she couldn't allow the girls to be bullied or distracted when such an amount of prized resources was in the line. Petty disputes must be avoided, whichever the cost.

There was never need to remain her of that , for her place had been almost at front-line and forgetting it would mean a bullet on her. Jean often had to wave the memories from the front line, a situation that annoyed her mightily.

These girls, with their safe service on the GC&CS barracks were never mindful for the heavy responsibilities in their pretty heads and frail shoulders. Jean refused to play the jailer for them; she was more a stern, elder sister

Of course, not all her code-breakers were a complete messes; there were some particularly sharp knives in her drawer. Lucy was blessed with a particular brain, if there was something to find, you can count on her to find it; Susan only needed to stare a page and she would repeat the information to kingdom come, and Millie... Oh, if Jean was to return to the front-line, Susan would be the one she would want to her side, with her language oriented brain and people ways. The rest of the team pulled their weight around at the best of their capacity, but Jean knew, deep down that she could have all sort of troubles trying to manage this SIXTA unit without that threesome.

All the efforts were valuable, all the service was valued and all the girls knew they were cherry-picked to fulfill their task, but they were human, and humans are mistake prone. One could never discount that they were young, and youth had been reckless since the beginning of time.

Jean had had to learn to turn a blind eye to some of their mistakes. How people who didn’t understand the kind of job they had been doing since 1939 try fight against human nature?

Early November, one of the young women had failed her duty between transcription and analysis, a data leak occurred when papers from the Bombe were discovered inside her personal correspondence. Jean could never excuse what she had done; smoking, sleeping around, drinking in gay company, that was excusable, but sharing codes to a male acquaintance outside Bletchley Park was unpardonable, and Jean feared that it was also irreparable.  She couldn’t present a defence to said behaviour, and would let the Justice of His Majesty  take its due course.

"It's so unfair," Millie complained with both her arms crossed over her bosom; not because she was distressed, but because that's where she had stowed away her counterfeited cigarettes for safe keeping. Jean made a mental note to ask her for one, "You know she has not the ability to select really important code."

Susan grumbled almost to herself, "Agnes couldn't read it, let alone break it".

Those two had some reason by their side, Jean knew it. Agnes worked habitually between Hut 14 and Hut 15 and she was not the brightest bulb of the barracks. Yet, she could have been instructed and, why not, tricked into sending what she would believe was waste paper. Jean hated to believe any of her girls a victim, not after the extensive training and the Ultra awareness campaigns, but such scenarios happened in secluded schools, why not in bureaucratic milieus?  She was treading a very fine thread here, she needed the facts if she expected the men above to understand. .

"Susan, I need to know precisely what sort of work Agnes did in Hut 14, find that information discretely," Jean instructed, she knew Susan was quick and methodical, "Millie, you are on responsible for the Hut while I return. Lucy, come with me."

They walked briskly to Hut 2, where personal must sign the register book every morning. Lucy was following Jean without knowing what was expected of her, unaware of her instrumental part in this investigation: if someone could be able to make the correlation between the work, the origin of the papers and the dates where Agnes was present on Hut 15, maybe, just maybe, she could wrestle the girl out of certain prison for she didn't expect operational head of GC&CS to apply martial law on the women under her supervision.

Thought part of her was not convinced such an airhead deserved another chance, it was her duty to her team to safeguard their lives and their morale.

At the end of the day, Jean was the elder sister and she cared for her girls.


End file.
